COVID-19 - Test for the World’s Legal Systems

Study by The International and Comparative Law Research Center 

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has not only become a global health and economic challenge but has also raised the questions of the sufficiency of emergency regulations at the international and national levels and the selection of the most effective response measures. The results of this research can be used to improve existing regulation, introduce the best approaches and practices for the prevention and response to emergencies, including in the health sector, in the future.

The present research examines the legal framework applicable to emergencies in general and the current pandemic at the international, regional (EAEU, EU), and national levels (China, France, Germany, Italy, the Russian Federation and its subjects, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States). Both the preexisting regulation and its evolution caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have been studied. The Analytical Report describes the tools to support organizations and citizens, as well as measures to restrict their rights and freedoms (restrictive measures) taken to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic and to combat the spread of the virus respectively.

Contributors include Professor Duncan Fairgrieve,   Senior Research Fellow in Comparative Law & Director, Product Liability Forum and Dr Ronan Cormacain,  Senior Research Fellow in Rule of Law Monitoring of Legislation with Marat Abzalov, Mariafrancesca Cataldo, Estelle Chambas, Yuxue Fang, Katarina Fast, Egor Fedorov, Natalia Galkina, Sven Jürgensen, Alba Nogueira Lopez, Victoria Manko, Olga Melnichenko, Frederik Orlowski, Thomas Perroud, Elizabeth Platt, Ruslan Sharipov, Alba Soriano, Anna Troshkina, Victoria Umanskaia, Maxim Vorobyev.